Mursal Hedayat wins the Bold Future Award 2022
Mursal Hedayat, our CEO and Co-Founder, has been honoured with Veuve Cliquot’s Bold Future Award for outstanding female entrepreneurs.
Harper’s Bazaar: 50 years of Bold Women: a celebration of Veuve Clicquot's prestigious awards
Mursal Hedayat MBE, founder of Chatterbox, has won the Bold Future Award by Veuve Clicquot, which celebrates female entrepreneurship and up-and-coming leaders of the future.
Veuve Clicquot's Bold Woman Awards showcase the achievements of audacious and innovative female entrepreneurs, giving them visibility in a world historically dominated by men. Previous winners have included: COVID-19 vaccine developer Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert, renowned architect Dame Zaha Hadid and Selfridges Group Managing Director Anne Pitcher.
Judge’s praised Mursal’s demonstration of entrepreneurial daring - in just six years, Chatterbox has raised more than £2m in investment and works with some of the world’s leading brands. Judges were also impressed by Mursal’s commitment to championing better representation - a former refugee herself, Mursal came to the UK as a child from Afghanistan and has become a leading proponent of encouraging refugees into skilled work.
Mursal said:
“I am honoured to have won the BOLD Future award, and thrilled to have my name mentioned alongside that of some utterly trailblazing previous winners. The world of entrepreneurship remains unduly hostile to female founders and I am immensely grateful for this honour, and the visibility it brings.
Platforming mine and Chatterbox’s work to integrate refugees and career re-starters into the workforce as language coaches supports our efforts to smash glass ceilings for professionals marginalised for reasons beyond their gender - which means the world to me. Thank you to the BOLD judges for bringing us into the spotlight.” ”
What is the Bold Woman Award?
The Bold Woman Award by Veuve Clicquot is a modern evolution of the Business Woman Award which has been running since 1972; the first and longest-running international accolade for female business figureheads. To date, 350 women across 27 countries have been honoured by the awards.
Veuve Clicquot’s Bold Awards take inspiration from Madame Clicquot, a woman whose tenacity and creativity led to entrepreneurial success. In 1805, her husband, the head of the House, passed away. Madame Clicquot took over the reigns of the House, securing its prosperity against all odds. It was a massive achievement in a time when women couldn’t open their own bank account, let alone independently run or own a business.
Veuve Clicquot wants to support women who redefine success on their own terms and push boundaries for the better of other women in their industry - just as Madame Clicquot did two centuries ago.